N.S. public sector wage legislation to be challenged in court

A crowd gathers at Province House earlier this month to protest Bill 148. Labour groups are launching a legal challenge to the wage legislation affecting the public sector. (TED PRITCHARD / Staff / File)

Labour groups are launching a legal challenge to Bill 148.

The legislation, passed last week by the majority Liberal government after a week of around-the-clock sittings at Province House, outlines a wage pattern and terms for arbitration that, if proclaimed, would impact 75,000 public-sector employees.

The Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, on behalf of affiliates including CUPE Nova Scotia, is launching the challenge.

“The jurisprudence in law, particularly out west, supports that,” he said, referring to a recent case in Saskatchewan that said collective bargaining is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

He disputed the suggestion by the premier that bargaining can continue even with the legislation because it limits negotiations to contract language. The other major issue the unions have with the bill is the suggestion that more money could be passed on to workers if they can find savings within their respective systems, said McNeil.

“There’s no extra money there anyway,” he said. “You know darn well if we want an extra one per cent or something from the employer, it’s going to come off of something else the employer is giving us, i.e. a benefit of some type.”

Any legal challenge, even if successful, would likely take years and McNeil knows that. But that isn’t reason enough not to pursue the matter, he said.

“You have to oppose it based on principle, if nothing else,” he said.

“The big thing we’re going to accomplish, first of all, is standing up for our basic right under the charter and I think that’s really important that we make a statement that’s profound on that.” Failing to do so, McNeil said, would be akin to saying, “That’s not a problem, what’s next, put something else in the lineup for us.”